Ruri Dragon - Ch. 9 - As Normal As Possible

[sssr]

hope she gets wings, that should b fun

Well, one-shot dad has wings, but looks like serial dad doesn't. She'll probably end up floating like a balloon instead.

 

[SuperOniichan]

Ruri Dragon is a success in Japan BECAUSE the characters talk in (Japanese) zoomer lingo. It's the new trend in SoL manga, mostly manifesting in web series. The most zoomer-ish manga around is probably See You Tomorrow at the Food Court, basically two gyarus just talking. Unfortunately, it's difficult to properly translate what they're saying, so if you look at the scanlations here the girls sound pretty normal. I actually applaud the official translator of Ruri Dragon for making her talk like she would in the original Japanese.

Another popular manga where the girls talk in this zoomer lingo is Mieru-ko-chan. We just don't notice this because it's translated into standard English, but Miko and Hana talk like proper zoomers in Japanese.

Also, Ruri Dragon is outperforming every other SoL in the Jump line, and even in Shueisha's entire SoL manga catalog. It's even outperforming long-running shonen stuff like Yozakura Family and Witch Watch. Shindo's career is quite secure. The long hiatus is not a big deal, really, and Shindo actually had a real good reason for it. Check out Ishizuka Chihiro's self-explanation for why Flying Witch had a similar hiatus (hit writer's block and ran away to hometown).

I love how people talk about trends and stuff when modern high school manga characters are literally zoomers for real lmao. At the same time, there is only one gyaru in the Food Court, the other is an otaku girl. This is a typical gyaru x otaku dynamic. Although, one way or another, there really is a lot of slang, since the whole manga is essentially teen friendly conversations during lunch.

It's by no stretch the "first time" a manga has used slang, that's a pretty ridiculous notion.

The reason you don't see it is because it's difficult to translate, often comes off stale due to the differences in pop culture and it's current icons, and usually doesn't give any literary or comedic value to someone with a different culture.

When I localized professionally, puns, wordplay, and slang tended to just get ripped and replaced with the closest English alternative we could think of.

edit: cut my rant about how official translations are bad because the JP side middle management didn't let us do out jobs

I can understand people's dislike of modern youth slang, but they seem to forget that the characters themselves are youth and that shonen manga is aimed at teenage boys. This is not seinen from a boomer author, where the characters sound like forced teenagers because of the translator. Returning to the translation, I think that in such cases the translator’s notes indicating the memes used by the characters can be saving. Like good old times.

 

[sssr]

I love how people talk about trends and stuff when modern high school manga characters are literally zoomers for real lmao.

I can understand people's dislike of modern youth slang, but they seem to forget that the characters themselves are youth and that shonen manga is aimed at teenage boys. This is not seinen from a boomer author, where the characters sound like forced teenagers because of the translator. Returning to the translation, I think that in such cases the translator’s notes indicating the memes used by the characters can be saving. Like good old times.

Well, true. It's just that most mangaka are a generation or two behind their characters, so it's just as hard for them to use this kind of lingo, which is why it's a fairly new trend in manga in Japan. I mentioned Witch Watch before, and it's a good example because all the teenage characters don't speak their age there. There's even a chapter where they make fun of (Japanese) zoomer lingo and old-man-teenager Moi can't understand any of it.

Shindo Masaoki is 26, btw.

 

[SuperOniichan]

Well, true. It's just that most mangaka are a generation or two behind their characters, so it's just as hard for them to use this kind of lingo, which is why it's a fairly new trend in manga in Japan. I mentioned Witch Watch before, and it's a good example because all the teenage characters don't speak their age there. There's even a chapter where they make fun of (Japanese) zoomer lingo and old-man-teenager Moi can't understand any of it.

Shindo Masaoki is 26, btw.

And this is just age, there are also issues such as gender, identity or even social origin. For example, I remember how one BL mangaka apologized to her gay friends because, as a straight woman, she relayed some stereotypes about men or gays, even being praised for her manga. In this case, we have a young man writing a manga about modern teenagers, so we expect slang. I even wonder how well the manga will represent the lives of Japanese teenagers in the future. I love realistic SoL.

 

[Mangamoz]

As everything goes on I just get more and more curious about how Ruri came to even exist? Not necessarily the physical but like, how did Ruri’s mum even meet a dragon to begin with?

Dragon saw some cool tomboy lady and went "I'm a hit that"

 

[sssr]

Dragon saw some cool tomboy lady and went "I'm a hit that"

I don't think Shindo is hardcore enough to do this, but the mechanics are basically there for the taking - we already have snex in Daija ni Totsuida Musume, although admittedly dad is a bit bigger than Daija.

 

[BuyVelomobiles]

It's by no stretch the "first time" a manga has used slang, that's a pretty ridiculous notion.

I think you're just looking too deep.
Maybe a little verbose, but like, so? Its not like every line is like that. Having one line thats a little longer than it could potentially be isn't world ending and doesn't mean there is a problem with the translation.

When I said "First time", I meant "First time for translations in general", not for the manga. I'll remind you we have a serious issue with "localizers" thinking they have carte blanc to butcher the source material. Even here, the one example that was brought up ended up with the mom saying something akin to "Doesn't all this talkin' just make ya thirsty?", and the guy in charge decides to throw in "pipes" and "yapping", then make two separate sentences. While it turns out I was wrong about their exact mannerisms, it also turns out at least one of the bubbles that bothered me was weird anyway!

Supposedly the guy is fluent in Japanese, so I can only assume he did this entirely on purpose. I can understand making mistakes, and I can understand having to chuck a line or two that literally can't translate without a Japanese lesson, but when the TL feels he can change that they say, you can't trust much of anything they put down anymore. I've seen it countless times already, and it's driven me to take on several projects myself. Lo and behold, there's usually a much deeper problem with the work as a whole when you look into it.

 

[Aoitenshi]

My conclusion from all this is that the Japanese raw is easier to read than the English translation especially for non-natives. The Japanese side is just two people talking casually. Meanwhile the translation depicts headache-inducing slangs that only a select group of English-speaking natives would understand.

I'll let you decide whether or not that's a good thing.

 

[Aoitenshi]

they are actually speaking that lax in the raw

By the way, is the raw available to read for everyone? I couldn't find it on Mangaplus.

 

[undeed]

By the way, is the raw available to read for everyone? I couldn't find it on Mangaplus.

Legally, the Japanese digital version of Ruri Dragon will only resume on Mangaplus from April 22nd

 

[Maplefield]

As everything goes on I just get more and more curious about how Ruri came to even exist? Not necessarily the physical but like, how did Ruri’s mum even meet a dragon to begin with?

It started with her looking for dragon balls

 

[xanon]

Ruri mom just laying it out there, "Dragons are a ton of fun"

 

[analoggue]

My conclusion from all this is that the Japanese raw is easier to read than the English translation especially for non-natives. The Japanese side is just two people talking casually. Meanwhile the translation depicts headache-inducing slangs that only a select group of English-speaking natives would understand.

I'll let you decide whether or not that's a good thing.

Cool your pipes, boy-o.

Cowabunga!

 

[Sakuyadorf]

after rereading the oneshot
imma need the Dad to pull up

 

[gronkle]

I like the frank attitude to single parenthood here. I wish I could get my teenage daughter to spend a day out with me more often, even though we live together we hardly see each other sometimes.

9 traits, huh? That's going to be 7 more ability manifestation arcs and a hidden trait arc then?

 

[BuyVelomobiles]

My conclusion from all this is that the Japanese raw is easier to read than the English translation especially for non-natives. The Japanese side is just two people talking casually. Meanwhile the translation depicts headache-inducing slangs that only a select group of English-speaking natives would understand.

I'll let you decide whether or not that's a good thing.

I've already shared this with a friend, and she was utterly confused by the weird slang. I actually had to explain what they were even saying for some of the more "creative" ones. If they use slang, use slang. But if they're just shooting the breeze, stop wasting time trying to be clever.

It started with her looking for dragon balls

And I'm guessing when she couldn't get them to do what she wanted, she tried working the shaft.

 

[Aoitenshi]

Legally, the Japanese digital version of Ruri Dragon will only resume on Mangaplus from April 22nd

Thank you for the info.

 

[dymarimar]

The interactions are so nice in this manga

 

[gartender]

I love her mom

 

[GalladeGuy]

I just can't get past the translation. I really can't stand zoomer slang, even if it's technically closer to the original than standard English. It's hard to read, but in a completely different way than the standard MTL trash. It makes it very difficult to enjoy an otherwise good manga.